Thursday, January 22, 2009

So I haven't titled anything in Italian yet, so I hope you guys liked that little bit of Italian. I figured I might as well blog a bit before I leave for VENICE this weekend. Also I received a lot of messages on Facebook today but I was kicked rigth off of the internet and can only sign onto blogger... so this is where I can answer you guys. Um yeah I mean its cool here in Siena and everything and its so cool just so go in and out of languages a lot, but it can get pretty old. I would KILL for a Diet Coke, not coke lite, a DIET COKE! Man, it's a total addiction. Um Siena is mainly covered in Gothic Architecture with a bit of Renissance, but mostly Gothic. You can tell when you look at the frames of doors and if it has a pointed arc then its usually Gothic (I hope that was right? Conor? Was that right?) Anyway its about 45 out everyday and usually gets to 65 mid-afternoon when its not raining. Speaking of rain I need to buy some rain boots for Venice... we'll see if I can find any. Oh and the question about the Italian guys, um there aren't that man hott ones yet. I mean at least not in Siena, but there are enough CREEPY ones!!! I feel like I'll find more in Florence... its a bigger city and probably younger. Well I'm gonna leave it at that because I have a museum tour at 6 and then dinner with the entire group. Oh right I forgot to tell you guys. We were on the news today. For really no reason at all. We're like the only American Students in Siena right now so they wanted to ask us stuff about Barack... idk why haha. But it was pretty sweet! Ok, So time to peace out. I'll talk to you guys later.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

mmm kay. This one's gonna be quick but I think it's hilarious. So we went to this bar last night called Cafe Corso... mainly because we were drinking earlier for Barack's Inauguration (and it was at 6 for me so don't think I'm an alcoholic)! And we were still buzzing off of the Spumante we drank so we made our way to Cafe Corso, and stopping at Il Palio on the way there for some dinner and a little more wine. But anyway at Cafe Corso we were scanning the list of drinks and discovered this shot called an American Flag... WHY NOT!?! So they loaded it with some kind of brandy, a cherry looking syrup, and something thats blue. Wow I really should know what is in this drink lol oops. Anyway we took a shot in honor of Barack! TO HISTORY! lol. Um yeah so that's pretty much it. We had a ton of fun last night though and this weekend we are going to Venice! I AM SO EXCITED! I probably won't take my computer with me so I'll update my journal and remember what is going on in Venice and then regurgitate it online later. So I hope you all had a great Inauguration day because I sure did!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

So the time I decide to live in Italy is the same time I miss the most historic moment in our country's history... oh yeah not to mention the fact that the Steelers are in the Superbowl ON MY BIRTHDAY! Oh well... I guess I'll just brush it off. Nothing too eventful today. Had class all day today, oh and we went to the dollar store during our break and found all of these notebooks that said all of these weird broken english things. Like one said "We are the best friends everywhere. Everywhere are." It was hilarious. I think I'm gonna pick some up as a joke tomorrow. But yeah I am so surprised that no one around here is excited for this new leader of the free world. Oh well, i mean I guess it really doesn't concern them too intensely, but still... its just weird. But after that I went and bought some shampoo (nothing too special just italian garnier fructiesse [sp?]). But i have noticed that my Italian is getting much much better. All we did in class today was try to figure out how to say "that's what she said" but the phrasing is a little too strange to translate literally so i think we're going to ask our teacher... on the last day of class haha.I know I keep saying this, but I still miss home, not homesick. I just miss my friends and family. I wish they were all here with me, or if they could come and visit me. I just miss the people who get me. I mean my friends here are pretty cool, but they don't understand me yet. Wow that sounds like an obnoxious teenager, but its true. Its just hard to break in new friends. Idk I wish it was just easy. We're all also getting super stir crazy in Siena. Its so small and there's pretty much nothing to do here. But they keep telling us that there will be so much to do in Florence and that we'll probably be culture shocked again. great... thats my favorite part. NOT! Geeze these stupid lights keep flickering on and off in the lobby. So obnoxious! Sorry, just a little stressed out here.Hopefully tomorrow will be more eventful. But tonight will be fun. We bought three bottles of Spumante for 4 people to celebrate for President Obama! Maybe I can convince everyone to get Pizza to go from Due Porte. We'll see.

Monday, January 19, 2009

So I apologize for never posting. I know i know having a severe lack of internet is no excuse but really... its impossible to get online. So I think I left you with some info on London. I cannot believe I survived Heathrow, but as I was walking through there all I could think of was Love Actually haha! Anyway, I am sitting here in Hotel Athena in Siena, which is about 3 blocks or 4 blocks away from Il Campo. Google it... its pretty awesome! I actually walk through there every morning to get to class. We've done some pretty cool things, but I feel like I should really brag about my walk to class. So we walk out of our hotel usually around 8:30 and pass by this market with fresh fruit and grapes and 1 euro HUGE bottles of water (bottiglia d'acqua minerale) and our favorite market guy works there, he's this really old cute italian man who speaks little to no English and teaches us italian words for different kinds of fruit. He also sells HUGE bottles of wine for only 4.50 euro... yeah get jealous haha. So anyway we usually get one of those huge bottles of water and a piece of FRESH fruit and head to class and on the way we walk through il campo which looks like this:So anyway we then go to class which is in the University of Siena and during our break we get the most amazing cappuccino on the face of this earth! IT IS SO AMAZING! Then usually after class, which is around noon, we get lunch like pizza or pasta or something quick so we can get to whatever activity we're doing that day... like going to a little italian town or wine tasting or something. We usually try to eat outside if it's a nice day out, which is pretty usual. It gets to be around 65 degrees F out in the afternoon because the sun shines right on the city, and the warmest is in Il Campo because it is the biggest open space. I love Siena, but it is such a small town. It takes about a week to discover every single area of the town. But there are some cool things about this town. Like they have things called Contradas, which are pretty much little regions within the town. Now, if you know anything about Siena, you are familiar with the horse race in the main square, which is Il Campo. Now each horse that races represents each contrada, and there are 17 different contradas. Each contrada has a flag, colors, and an animal that represents the region. My favorite contrada is the PANTHER CONTRADA! Mainly because its sweet, but there are other ones from the turtle contrada to the dragon contrada... I kinda like the dragon contrada too but their colors are ugly. Anyway these horses race around Il Campo three times and race at different times, and who ever wins receives pretty much a trophy and bragging rights for the year. Its pretty sweet.So theres the little history lesson on Siena.Now, update on me:I'm pretty good. A little homesick at first but I am starting to love it here. I cannot wait for Florence, and my roommates and I wanna get wireless which means more availability of ME! YAY! This is also really good because I am doing this volunteer thing for an online newspaper and I need the internet for that. Its a pretty sweet deal because you are assigned things like seeing movies before their release date (which would still be late compared to the US) and other things that require a press pass. YEAH! SO EXCITED! I have also been making a lot of new friends... but nothing like you guys. But we've been having fun and we've been going to a bunch of different bars and stuff. But our favorites so far have been: The Red Barron, The Galleria (which is not its actual name thats just what we call it) and Cafe Corso. Oh and here's the deal with cafes and bars. Bars here are actually considered places to get coffee... and cafes are places to get food and to drink. So when I say Bar I mean coffee shop and when I say Cafe I mean a bar haha. Um and yeah thats pretty much the update on me. I've been walking my face off and drinking tons of water (because coca-cola lite is SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE). And since its so expensive and nothing like diet coke i had to do the whole forced rehab from diet coke... it was awful. So many headaches and a severe loss of energy, but I feel much much better drinking water constantly. Wow this one is SUPER LONG! So sorry! But yeah so I am now a water addict haha. Anyway I should probably get going but just to some up:Andrea now drinks Wine more often than she shouldshe also chooses water over diet coke (how did that happen?)walks her freaking face off everydayprobably losing tons of weight, but who knows with all these carbs i've been eatingMisses American Television (mainly the office)Misses everyone in the statesrealized shes been speaking tons of italian and referring to the US as the "states"and wants to but a pair for Florentine Bootsand a purseand many many thingshahak love you all

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

First post. Awesome. So I leave in two days, which is weird because I am SO not ready and I don't even feel like I'll be gone for five months. It will be weird. Dayton already started the second semester today which is weird and I've been receiving calls from all of my friends today... it's so strange. So on the 7th this is how my schedule is looking, I leave around 3 from the Pittsburgh airport to the Dulles airport and then around 6 or so I take off to London for a.... 7 HOUR FLIGHT. Jesus, I hope I have the patience to watch Space Jam a few times considering its the only movie on my I-pod. It's cool though, I'm gonna try to make myself sleep because I'll be in London 6 Am their time, so that will be pretty rough. Finally when I land in Heathrow I'll be meeting up with people from AIFS and catch a ride with them to Richmond. Then we have orientation for like 2 or 3 hours and after that free time to roam LONDON! The best part! hahaha. I hope someone will want to wander with me rather than sleep, but we'll see how it goes haha. It's weird that it's so soon.

I forgot that this was going to be my semi-professional blog for internship applications. Oh well, I think informal shows my personality... so they can deal hahahaha